It didn’t take me long to start looking for books after moving to Beijing. What I began to realize is that it’s not difficult to find some books in English here; the real trick is finding the books you want. I went on a journey to the largest foreign bookstores in Beijing, the ones in Wangfujing, with a list of six books I was hoping to find. I spent hours browsing and left with several books though none of the ones on my original list. My list had several things going against it, namely that the books were nonfiction, new, and niche.
Here are the types of books you can find with some ease in Beijing:
Bestsellers
These are not difficult to spot. Though the latest bestsellers may take a bit of time to get over the ocean, titles like Black Swan, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, and Eat, Pray, Love were well-stocked as of yesterday. Malcolm Gladwell had several dedicated shelves, as did John Grisham and Stephanie Meyer. If it’s popular, there’s a good chance you can find it in Beijing. One thing to note is that, if these are legitimate copies of the bestselling books, you will pay around 100 kuai (or more) for them. Anything cheaper tends to indicate there’s copyright infringement afoot.
Classics
In the opposite direction, books which are considered literary classics are also abundant in Beijing. Jane Austen titles which you didn’t know existed, a collection of Sherlock Holmes, and every epic Greek story you could ever desire all await at even the smaller bookstores around town. Depending on the copy, these can be quite cheap (twenty kuai), so be aware of anything priced much higher than that. You decide to spring for the Richard Lattimore translation of The Odyssey, but in the case of books written in English, the text is the same as the fancier copies.
Books on Teaching English/Learning Chinese
There are hundreds of books for those in the abundant field of teaching English. The quality of these books is less solid than availability, but there are gems. The biggest section for these that I’ve seen is at the Beijing Foreign Languages Bookstore (Wangfujing) on the third floor by the children’s books. There are also numerous books available for English-speakers hoping to learn Chinese (verbal or written). There are a few of these in most books stores, but O2SUN Bookstore in Wudaokou is a great place to look for them thanks to the many colleges in the area with programs for foreigners learning Chinese.
If your wish list contains these types of books, chances are you can head to a bookstore in the city and have them in your hand by the end of the day. I’ve already mentioned Wangfujing and Wudaokou, but you don’t have to travel to the center of the city for a bookstore. Chaterhouse Booktrader has two locations (The Place Shopping Center near Guomao and the River Garden Clubhouse in Shunyi). The Bookworm in Sanlitun is also a standard go-to bookstore, though their assortment of books for sale is measly compared to the books you can borrow if you sign up for the lending library. Another lending library, The Bookmark, is located near the Capital Paradise villas in Shunyi, although they no longer sell their extra books as far as I’ve been told.
If, like me, you find yourself looking for a book that is outside of these categories, you may be left with little choice than to order online or bring the book back from a trip to a country with a better English selection. If you order online from Amazon.com, you’ll pay $4.99 per shipment plus $4.99 per book (standard shipping). I prefer Better World Books. I have had orders shipped here without issue and love their efforts to make the world, well, better. Their shipping for new items is $3.97 per item internationally (standard shipping). Their selection is more limited and prices are a bit higher, which may cancel some of the original savings from the comparison of shipping rates, but I like to think I’m doing good while shopping.
Have I missed any major book hubs? How do you read the books you love while living in Beijing?
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Great informative blog! My husband, our 3 yr old son, and I are moving to Beijing in the New Year. It’s a big move for them, not so much for me as I lived in Asia for the first 19 yrs or my life. That said, after reading your post on English books, I am planning on getting myself an i-pad before the big move so I can just download books I want…hopefully
Instead of buying a paperback on Amazon, you can buy the Kindle edition for usually 50-75% of the price, and it is linked to the same account. The best part of Kindle is how it can be used on so many different platforms. I downloaded the Kindle App for my iPod touch and new books sync in less than a minute. Much better alternative than having the physical book shipped internationally! Beware though: Kindle books aren’t “officially” available in China, so make sure you’re logging in through the US store.
You’ll be pleased to read the last line of this article regarding Guomao 3
– http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/articles/blogs-beijing/beijingologist/beijings-wtc-iii-now-officially-reality/
I was about to mention Kindle, it’s cheap, it’s fast, and you can carry lots of books around with you in one machine. It saves you the shipping cost and the shipping time.
Book Swap & Board Games in Beijing is awesome, meets once a month, and is a great way of meeting new people who share a love of books! Plus, you don’t have a fork over any money! You can either keep the book, or swap it at the next meeting. And, you get the lovely old fashion feeling of turning real paper.
From their FB site (http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=21604828686&v=info&ref=ts):
“A monthly meeting of book and board game fans in Beijing. We meet every first Saturday of every month, unless holidays get in the way.
Bring books from your already groaning bookshelves and swap them in for new titles! Everything from thrillers to non-fiction to chick lit is available. Come by and check it out and make some new friends!
There are only a few rules, it is 1-for-1 except for children’s books (3-for-1 for picture books and shorter chapter books) and we don’t accept textbooks, classics, or Chinese-language titles, those are all easily available here.
We’ll also be having several lively board games taking place–if you’ve been dying to play Settlers of Catan or the China version of Monopoly with like-minded folks, come on over and show us what you’re made of!”
Anita, is Balderdash played?
You can buy books very cheap on taobao. They’re the same ones you find on the street markets, but about a third cheaper. Get a Chinese friend to help with the orders.
http://www.taobao.com/